Car-truck.



O. T. WESTLAKE. OAR TRUCK.

APPLICATION FILED JAIL 20, 1913.

1,079,459, Patented Nov. 25, 1913.

A Ill/I IA 3 v 3 nmnn STATES PATENT OIll-F1( 3E.

crmnnns '1'. WESTLAKE, or sub. tours, ms'sounr, assreiioa *ro SWING- noLLme 'rnucx 00., or ST. LOUIS, mssounr, a coarona'rron or DELAWARE.

can-TRUCK.

, Specification of Letters Patent.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES T. VVEs'r- LAKE, a citizen offthe United States, residing at St.-Luis, Missouri, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Car- Trucks, ofwhich the following is a full, clear, and exact description, such as wlll enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same,reference being had-to the accompanying drawings,'forming part of this specification, 1n which Figure 1- is'a' sectional view taken transversely through a cartruck of my improved construction ata point adjacent ,to' the bolster and spring plank, and showing the roller supports for the bolster. as contemplated by my invention. Fig. 2 is a sectional view gmilar to Fig.v 1, andshowing the h lster and the roller supports in the positions they assume when'the bolster is moved or swung laterally with respect to the truck frame. Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail sectional view of one of the roller supports, and illustrating diagrammatically the arrangement and contour of the seat or "surface on which the roller bears; My invention relates generally to improvements in railway car trucks, and more particularly to the supportingn'ieans for the end portions of'the'truck bolster, which supporting means, under certain conditions, permits the bolsterto move or swing laterally with respect to the truck frame.

As is well known,the feature of a lateralor swing-motion car truck and which 'ves it its name, is tlIIBPIOVIlSIOII therein or a certain amount of lateral swing or movementof the truck bolster relative to the truck frame, and thus, under normal conditions and upon straight track, the'bolster' is maintained in a substantially horizontal plane, and when turning a curve at other than a very low speed, the centrifugal-force track curve.

of the car body transmittedto thebolster causes the same to swing or shift laterally of the'truck frame and centrifugally of the It is the usual 'ractice in lateral or swing-motion cartru s to support the. truck bolster from the truck ame b means types 0 normally maintain the bolster insubstanti'ally rigid posit-ion, but which will per hangers.

To the above purposes my invention. conplank, 4 the sprin' of swing hangers, certain. which are "constructed soas to Patented'Nov. 25, 1913'.

proper contour, and it is the'principal object of my invention to arrange roller sup-' ports beneath the end portions of the truck bolster, and to provide seats for the rollers, WhlCl'l seats have variably curved surfaces arranged so that when the bolster is shifted laterally under great force, one end'thereof will. be elevated, thus causing the support-ed car body to travel in acurved path about a point substantially above its center of avity, and to also rotate about an imaginary A further object r my invention is a provide seats for the supporting rollers,

which will tend to maintain said rollers in their normal positions and to cause the same to have a high degree of initial resistance 'to lateral movement of the bolster.

The feature of causing a car body to partially rotate about an imaginary .axis has been found very desirable and advantageous in car construction for the reason that the greater portion of the side thrust developed when rounding curves at high speeds is ab-;

"sorbed or counteracted by causing the of the car to thus rotateinstead'of -displac-,-

ing thecenter of gravity to theex'tent'caused' by the use of. ordinary paralleljswing' sists'in' certain novel features of construc-".

'tion' and arrangement of arts hereinafter more fullydescribed and c aimed."' Referring by numerals to the accompanym g drawings whichillust-rate a simple construction and arrangement for carryin outmy invention, 1 designates a truck boster,

2.the' spring plank, 3 the spring seats supported by the end port-ions; of the spring which rest upon the seats 3 and yielding y-support the vertically moving plates 5 in which the lower roller ats are'formed. v I

The undersides of the end portions of the bolster 1 are preferably prov1ded w1th bearing plates 6, the undersides of which areis a shallow provided with roller seats 'which are revers'ely formed and arranged with respect to the seats in the plates 5. The roller suption of the sur ace of which, or that portion ,radius than that of the roller.

from a to b is curved and has the same radius as the roller, and that portion of the bottom of the pocket toward'the outer end of the plate-5,- or that portion between a and 0 is formed on a curve having a greater The surface of the pocket between the points a and 0 gradually curves upward from, the outer end of the curved surface avb to the top of the plate 5. The opposite or inner portion of the bearing. surface of the'pocket 8, or that portion between I) and d is'formed on a curve having a much greater radius than the radius of the curved surface H, and this portion of the bearing surface curves gradually upward to the top of the bearingplate 5 near its inner end.

The centersfor the radii on which the curved bearing surfaces are formed are diagrammatically illustrated in Fig.- 3, the

curves a-b and bd being tangent at b, and curves ab and H tangent at a.

Formed in the underside of the plate 6 is a "pocket 8 the bottom of whichdias the same contour as the bottom of the pocket in the plate 5, but the curve or curves on which the bottom of said pocket 8 is formed are reversely arranged relative to the curves on which the bottom of the pocket 8 is formed. Thus when the plates are properly assembled the comparatively short durve wc on the plate 6is ositioned above the curved surface bdj of the plate 5, and the curved surface bd of the plate 6 is ositioned above the curved surface H of t e plate 5. Normally the roller 7 is positioned at a central point within the pockets -8 and 8 with arts of this surface bearing against the suraces 0-4) at the deepest portions of the pockets 8 and 8. As hereinbefore stated, these surfaces w-b have the same radius as'that of the roller, and thus when said roller is in its-normal osition and in engagement with said sur aces will maintain its seat against considerablelateral force by virtue which the truck will be practically rigid while traveling on straight track.

When the bolster is moved laterally in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 3

I as a result of centrifugal force developed by the truck rounding a curve at comparatively high speed, the roller 7 will rise grad ually upward on the curved surface ac of the plate 5 and the upper-portion of sald roller bearinglagainst the corresponding curved surface ac of the plate 6 will cause said plate and the corresponding end of the. bolster to rise quickly, and during this movement the roller beneath the opposite end of the bolster will be bearing upon the curved surfaces b-d of the opposite pair of lates, which surfaces, as heretofore stated, ave much greater radii than the surface ac, and thus one end of the bolsterswill be elevated in advance of the other end, and which action causes the supported car body to be constrained to travel .in a curved path and at the same time to rotate about an imaginary axis.

v The action produced by roller bearings of my improved construction is practically the same as that produced by utilizing converging swing hangers having three points of pivotal connection.

By the use of rollers a considerable amount of friction is eliminated, and by forming the lowermost portions of the pockets with hearing. faces having the same radius as the roller, a truck is produced which is rigid on straight track and which is in effect a swing-motion truck on curved track.

By virtue of my improved construction it is possible to maintain equilibrium of the truck under all conditions, and it is also possible for the truck to take a curve at a comparatively high degree of speed for the side thrust or centrifugal force of the load developed in rounding a curve ,is counteracted and absorbed by utilizing it to raise the body of the car and to cause said body to partially rotate about an imaginary axis. It will be readily understood that minor changes in the size, form and-construction of the various parts of my improved truck may be made and substituted for those herein shown and described without departing from the spirit of my invention, the scope of which is set forth claims.

I claim:

1. A car having rolling body supports of high initial resistance to lateral movement and arranged so that when the car body moves laterally from its normal position said car body is caused to also travel in a curved path and to rotate about an imaginary axis. a

2. In a car truck, a bolster and supports for said bolster, which supports are arranged for rolling movement-on seats so as to resist normal lateral thrust upon the bolster and to elevate one end of said bolster in advance 9f the other when said bolster is sub ected to abnormal lateral thrust.

' 3. In a car truck, a bolster, rolling supports therefor, bearing members for said rollmg supports, which bearing members are provided with roller bearing surfaces in the appended to cause said car body to travel in a curved.

.bearing faces for said rolling supports,

which bearing faces are formed so as to maintain the rolling supports in normal .po-

sitions against normal lateral thrust of the car body transmitted to the bolster, and to elevate one end of thebolster in advance of the other when abnormal side thrust of the car body is transmitted to the bolster, and

path and to rotate about an imaginary axis.

6. In a car truck, a bolster, rolling supports therefor, supporting means for the rolling supports, and which supporting means is provided with rolling support bearing faces parts of which are .di1'ferentially curved so as to offer increasing resistance to all lateral thrust imparted to the bolster.

7. In a car truck, a bolster, rolling supports therefor, supportingmeans :for said rolling supports, which supporting means is provided with bearing faces for the rolling supports each of which bearing faces is formed with a series ferent radii. I

8. In a car truck, a bolster, rolling supof curves having difports therefor, I supporting means for the rolling supports, which supporting means is provided with bearing faces for the rolling supports, the central portion of each bearin having the same radius as the surface 0 the rolling support, and the adjacent portions of which bearing surface are curved in opposite directions to different radii.

9. A car having rolling body supports and seats for said rolling supports, parts of which seats are differentially curved lengthwise.

10. A car having rolling body supports and a pair of difi'erentially curved seats for each rolling support, which seats are reversely disposed with respect to each other.

11. A car having rolling body supports, differentially curved seats for said supports, which seats are arranged to cause the car body to travel in a curved path and to also partially rotateabout an imaginary axis when said body is shifted laterally.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature in the presence of two witnesses, this 14th day of January, 1913.

CHARLES-T. WESTLAKE. Witnesses:

HAL CJBELLVILLE,

FRED H. BLANKENHORN. 

